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Ohh no.. I'll have to look into it! It's been a while since I've revisited the code for this small game but I believe something you can do on your end is delete the game and redownload it to start the game anew or you can attempt to delete the persistent data, similar to how it's explained here (except the game name should be shadeofblue). https://itch.io/post/1135699

I'm really sorry about the issue- I'm still learning and seem to have trouble with this sort of thing in my other games, but once I figure it out once and for all, I'll try to update this game as soon as possible.

Hello! The intended order of selection progression is to select the key > clock (poorly indicated by the little rectangle with 4 lines) > desk drawer. The story advances by itself shortly after the drawer is opened and you see the item inside.

Thanks for playing and enjoying the atmosphere!! Please let me know if there are any issues!

Ohh no!! For that section, the route is to start with Starr, select the 'music' choice (I believe it's that one, I can't remember atm-whichever choice ends abruptly), get kicked out, talk to Sylvia (which cues the line "I have an answer to Starr's riddle") and then select either 'hidden' or 'music' again (since iirc I had the conversation flow continue to the other choice if you got one answer right). If that doesn't work there might be some flag shenanigans that might have passed me by... but that chunk of mishap is a mistake on my part, in retrospect I really should have added additional dialogue to further direct players ;;

Thanks for taking the time to play!

Can you tell me where exactly this issue occured? There is a dialogue loop in the beginning, but a chunk of dialogue should be a different color and an exclamation mark should pop up next to Rocky, indicating that the different color dialogue should be clicked.

Thank you!! We've been working real hard and I'm excited for this to hit the Web™! 😊

All the pieces are coming together as the deadline approaches!!!

We have the following good shenanigans:

cheesy dialogue!

cute credits screen!!

...and most importantly...

fun protagonist!!!

Please stay tuned for further development, or perhaps even by the next time we meet: the release of a game I still need to come up with a proper title for...?!

For the past few days I've been ironing out the base foundation of the script so when I finish writing the story, I can plug it in and go! I can say with SOME confidence that all the pieces are there and all are in working order!

To summarize the game, our main character is trying to lift the spirits of her small group since they have found themselves snowed in during an awards night. The gameplay involves talking to the others and objecting to their distressed thinking, as they all believe the night is ruined.

My initial idea was to have the main character have an 'inventory' of statements she hears and when she feels like something is off while talking to the others, she can go into her brain inventory and (Phoenix Wright voice) object! to contradictory things. However, I realized while programming an inventory wouldn't exactly be necessary since the list of things our main character is "storing" only comes up to about 3 statements at most. I discovered while writing the story that the objection statements are employed quite quickly, forgoing the need for anything to be kept for a lengthy period of time. Instead of an inventory, I've decided to use a series of flags to set up a 'faux inventory' mechanic which requires a bit of going back and forth between scripts on my end but I believe it'll suffice.

Lots of setting up the script on my end! It's quite a dry process to record but I will say that it's AMAZINGLY satisfying to get things working! 45 minutes of my time spent today involved looking at a bunch of the following:

So that was fun.

On a better note, I also played with a tiny bit of UI customization!

More to come soon! Yunha's concept art is coming along swimmingly and I can't wait for it to make its debut in the game!!

Minor update on my end, I've outlined the full story flow (very messily) as well as started laying down the foundation for the game in Ren'py!

Writing is the absolute hardest thing for me so I'll be dedicating a large portion of my time to tackling that... huffs.

A stretch goal of mine, if I can find the time AND patience, will be to implement a lil side image for the main character to poke her head in! Otherwise I'll just go with a side-by-side dialogue with the main character defaulting to the left side and the others on the right side.

That's all from me today! I hope to return with more visuals, specifically UI progress, if anything! I don't even know how to share writing progress so you probably won't see much of that from me, haha.

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[Edit] SIDE IMAGE YES

Hi all!!! Cynthia here, this is my third time participating in an MFGJ event and I'm psyched to be here again! My other games were Room for thought and A shade of blue, two very different games on their own- the former a first person narrative and the second a kinetic short story with 'room escape' elements. This time around, I've got my learning cap on and I'm tackling a form of inventory in Ren'py (sweats...) along with honing my writing in general!

Before I get to all the good devlog stuff, allow me to introduce myself! I'm Cynthia, a small illustrator, gamedev/VNdev and HUGE mystery enthusiast - big fan of Ace Attorney, 999, Zero Escape, Danganronpa, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, etc. (I haven't gotten around to AI Somnium Files so it is not in the 'etc' pile yet - forgive me).

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In the midst of a snowstorm, four employees of the newly successful music retail company Masters Records find themselves unable to progress to an awards ceremony due to heavy snow. Taking shelter in a nearby mountain lodge, the four are stressed and upset that they won't be able to receive the award they all worked so hard for. However, newcomer Rocky is quick to look at the brighter side of things and tries to help the rest of her coworkers enjoy themselves regardless the award!

- - -

The cast!

(Main character) Rochelle "Rocky" Rhoyle

• Rocky is a casual, laid-back, lover of talking peoples' ears off, landing her the position of public relations officer. As such, she finds herself in the midst of crisis management... within the group.
• As a newcomer to the small company, Rocky still has some things to learn about her fellow coworkers...

Starr Dominic

• A well-to-do numbers person who believes everything must be earned, Starr is rather tightly wound and unintentionally callous, resulting in her being difficult to approach.

Sylvia Masters

• As the young proprietor of Masters Records, a newly successful retail music company, Sylvia is the clever businesswoman behind it all. She can be rather airheaded during certain social situations, however.

Loren Lovegood

• Loren is an impressionable office administrator that will always give 120% in whatever task needs to get done. They are an enthusiast of mysteries who often inserts their enthusiasm in misplaced scenarios...

Brigid Solomon

• Brigid is Masters Records' stern legal advisor who's always about facts in the work environment. However, her personality outside work lacks the courage her advisory side displays as she has some trouble with her self-confidence. She finds herself at the awards ceremony by herself, nervous about accepting the award since she always thought of herself as a 'second fiddle' of sorts to the grand achievements of Sylvia.

- - -

So far the story outline has been fully plotted out! I will be working in-depth on creating the main mechanic of the game which will essentially function as a casual contradiction/objection mechanic, wherein Rocky will begin to remember select statements after the employees express their dissatisfaction on their snowed in predicament. As the other employees are spread aimlessly throughout the lodge, Rocky will take it upon herself to try and make the evening enjoyable for the rest of her coworkers by quashing their worries. Rocky's penchant for being generally nosy and remembering what people say will contribute to her trying to remedy the stressful situation the employees find themselves in.

I'm still sorting the mechanic out in my head, so please forgive me for not detailing much here. I hope to work out a form of the mechanic come this evening!

My main focus for this game jam is definitely going to be writing and programming- two areas that I feel I could improve upon in my novice stages of learning about development, so my devlogs will be on the more wordy side than visual as I share my trials and tribulations!

- - -

That's all from me, however there's more to be seen as I have the pleasure of working alongside the amazing artist dotoriii! I am leaving the character designs in their greatly blessed hands- they are in the midst of designing the cast, so please stay tuned for their post regarding that!

- - -

[Edit] The team consists of:

• 💻 mythridate (me!): writing & programming
• 🎨 dotoriii (artist extraordinaire): character design & artwork

And for the sake of staying within scope, music will be pulled from The Sound of Picture.